The Rubio — Schumer Amendment

It’s been a while.I first wrote about our Junior U.S. Senator in what might have been my first effort for these pages more than a couple of years ago.I’ve written positively on Marco Rubio several times since.

I still like him.Let’s just say the political dialogue in the Nation has matured in those passing years.I hadn’t been ready for any critique of Senator Rubio.That was unrealistic of me. We’ll take a look at this latest action by our senator.Things are moving, even in proposed tax legislation.

WSJ:“The GOP is pushing forward on tax reform, though a receiving line of Republicanholdoutsare slow-rolling progress.One who deserves specialmention is Marco Rubio, who contributed nothing to ObamaCare repeal and nowaspiresto dilute the tax bill .Voters ought to remember this when he’s next pitching himself for President.

On Wednesday Mr. Rubio and his political sidecar, Mike Lee of Utah, announced that they’ll file an amendment to change the $2,000 child tax credit.They want to make the credit refundable up to a person’s payroll tax liability, among other expensive tweaks.To pay for the changes, Messrs. Rubio and Lee would increase the corporate tax rate to 22% from the bill’s 20%.

If Mr. Rubio thinks payroll taxes are too high, he can propose a payroll tax cut.But then he’d have to weather the political fight of going after funding for Medicare and Social Security. So instead his back-door plan is to expand a refundablecredit, which delivers checks to folks who owe no federal income tax.This is a disincentive to work and we would have thought antithetical to conservative principles.” When I was a grad student at the Kennedy School more than a few years ago the faculty was always on the lookout for such ‘negative income tax’ gimmicks – like the earned income credit.Now they call these refundable items.

More from the Journal Editorial writers:“More destructive is his increase in the corporate tax rate, which is the most pro-growth plank in the bill and could significantly increase what Americans since much of the tax falls on labor.A point or two or more may seem like no big deal but it might be the difference between making the U.S. more competitive than the OECD’s roughly 24% average – or not. And that’s a mere average.One competitor for investment is Ireland’s 12.5% rate.

Mr. Rubio knows this, or ought to, yet hispress release could have been written by Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.‘Right now 70% of the tax cuts we’re considering would go to businesses’ the Rubio-Lee dispatch says and’30% to individuals.’ This is a false choice – individualsearn income at businesses – and apes the left’s class war politics.”

WSJ:“Senate tax writers have already indulged the Rubio-Lee caucus beyond what any two Senators deserve.The original proposal increased the credit to $1,650 from the current $1,000.The pair demanded more.So when Republicans received a revenue windfall from repealing the ObamaCare coverage mandate, they raised the credit to $2,000.Now that also isn’t enough.Senators who demand ransom should at least stay bought.

Messrs. Rubio and Lee are inviting Democrats to join them to pass the amendment on the Senate floor, though Democrats will oppose the final bill.Republicans will have to hang together to defeat Rubio-Lee, which creates a tough vote for incumbents running in 2018.This could also pick a fight with the White House, which has laid down a marker on the

20%corporate rate.

Mr. Rubio may be setting himself up to run as a social conservative hero in 2024, or even 2020 if President Trump declines to run, and the child credit obsession is a down payment on that brand.Yet voters looking for a candidate who understands what makes America – and American families – prosper will have to look elsewhere.”